UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 

Class  Book  Volume 


F  11-20M 

liiNOIS  HiSTORJCM.  SURVEY 


.HE 
;tM^ 


CEREMONIES 


THE  UNVEILING 


BRONZE  MEMORIAL  GROUP 


CHICAGO  MASSACRE 


OF  1812. 


CHICAGO: 

PRINTED  FOR  THE  CHICAGO  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 
1893. 


BLAKELY  &  ROGERS 
CHICAGO. 


CEREMONIES. 


'topr  ~^HE  ceremonies  at  the  unveiling  of  the   Bronze 
»0      1        Memorial  Group  of  the  Chicago   Massacre   of 
1812,  were  held  near  the  "Massacre   Tree,"   at  the 
eastern    end   of  Eighteenth   Street,    in    the    City    of 
Chicago,    on  June   22nd,    1893,    in  pursuance  of  the 
following  invitation,   addressed  by  the   Chicago  His- 
torical Society  to   its    members   and   friends,  to   the 
number  of  fifteen  hundred  or  more  : 
K 

THE  PRESIDENT  AND  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 
tx  OF  THE 

CHICAGO  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 
REQUEST  THE  HONOR 

OF 

ro       YOUR  ATTENDANCE  AT  THE  UNVEILING  OF  CARL  ROHL-SMITH'S 
BRONZE  MEMORIAL  GROUP  OF  THE  CHICAGO  MASSACRE 

XT 

0  OF    I8l2,    AND  THE  PRESENTATION  OF  THE 

K 

WORK   TO   THE    SOCIETY 
K 

=:  BY 

^ 

£  GEORGE  M.  PULLMAN. 

<«*» 

^r> 

4>  THE   CEREMONY  WILL  TAKE  PLACE   NEAR   THE   "  MASSACRE  TREE," 

2> 

*-       AT  THE   EASTERN   END   OF  EIGHTEENTH  STREET,  AT  FOUR   O  CLOCK  ON 
^ 
^       THE   AFTERNOON   OF   THURSDAY,   JUNE   22d,    1893. 

«<"> 

»f* 

At  the  hour  and  place  appointed  a  large  audience 
assembled.     Among  those  present  were  Mr.  and  Mrs. 


192369 


4 

George  M.  Pullman,  Ex-President  Benjamin  Harrison 
and  his  daughter,  Mrs.  McKee ;  Chief  Justice  Melville 
W.  Fuller,  Hon.  Lambert  Tree,  Dr.  N.  S.  Davis, 
Hon.  Thomas  W.  Palmer,  Hon.  Robert  T.  Lincoln, 
Prince  Isenberg,  General  and  Mrs.  Nelson  A.  Miles, 
Marshall  Field,  Mrs.  H.  O.  Stone,  Rev.  Dr.  Clinton 
Locke,  Miss  Kate  Field,  E.  S.  Willard,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
John  M.  Clark,  Mrs.  Wirt  Dexter,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Arthur  Caton,  Mrs.  Sanger,  Miss  Pullman,  Norman 
Williams,  W.  G.  Hibbard,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank 
Carolan,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  W.  Kimball,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
George  L.  Dunlap,  Hon.  Darius  Heald,  General 
Horace  Porter,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  W.  Doane,  O.  S. 
A.  Sprague,  Franklin  H.  Head,  H.  N.  Higinbotham, 
General  John  Corson  Smith,  E.  L.  Brewster,  Judge 
and  Mrs.  Grosscup,  Ex-Senator  Lyman  Trumbull,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  E.  B.  McCagg,  E.  W.  Blatchford,  A.  B. 
Pullman,  Mrs.  Edmund  Norton,  Mrs.  R.  L.  Henry, 
Miss  Reuling,  Mrs.  Charles  P.  Kellogg,  Miss  Emma 
Kellogg,  Mrs.  L.  M.  Johnson,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  G.  B. 
Marsh,  Miss  Clark,  Miss  Gretchen  Isham,  Miss  Lucy 
Isham,  Mrs.  James  A.  Mulligan,  Thomas  Dent,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  W.  K.  Nixon,  Mrs.  Wilmerding,  District- 
Attorney  Milchrist,  Miss  Laura  Williams,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  William  E.  Hale,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Murry  Nelson, 
Charles  H.  Mulliken,  Gen.  and  Mrs.  A.  L.  Chetlain, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  T.  W.  Wadsworth,  James  Wadsworth, 
John  D.  Adair,  Paul  Selby,  Miss  Nina  Smith,  William 


D.  Kerfoot,   Mr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel  H.   Kerfoot,   Mr. 
and  Mrs.  T.  W.   Harvey,   H.  N.  May,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
N.  K.  Fairbank,  Col.  and  Mrs.  John  M.  Loomis,  John 
G.    Shortall,    C.   Gunther,  William    G.    Beale,   A.    F. 
Stevenson,    H.    B.    Mason,     Miss    Kimball,    A.    T. 
Andreas,  James  W.  Scott,  John  B.  Drake,  William  W. 
Stewart,  Augustus  Jacobson,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  W. 
King,  Orson  Smith,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Joseph  Kirkland,  J. 
Irving  Pearce,  Joseph  E.  Otis. 

Conspicuous  among  the  guests  were  a  number  of 
old  residents  of  Chicago,  including  Judge  John  D. 
Caton  and  S.  B.  Cobb  (1833),  Fernando  Jones, 
Charles  C.  P.  Holden  and  George  M.  Gray  (1835), 
A.  G.  Burley,  A.  H.  Burley  and  Charles  E.  Peck 
(1836),  Robert  Fergus,  Peter  L.  Yoe,  Eugene  C. 
Long  and  John  C.  Long  (1840). 

The  President  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society 
announced  that  the  Society  had  received  a  letter  from 
George  M.  Pullman,  Esq.,  which  read  as  follows: 

CHICAGO,  June  iQth,   1893. 

E.  G.  MASON,  ESQ.,    PRESIDENT   CHICAGO  HISTORICAL 

SOCIETY,  CHICAGO,  ILL. 

Dear  Sir: — The  proximity  to  my  home  of  the  old 
cottonwood  tree,  which  marks  the  spot  in  the  vicinity 
of  which  occurred  the  massacre  of  the  major  portion 
of  the  garrison  and  residents  at  and  near  Fort  Dear- 
born, on  August  1 5th,  1812,  suggested  the  thought  of 


contributing  an  addition  to  the  many  valuable  relics 
belonging  to  your  Society  by  the  erection  of  an  en- 
during monument,  which  should  serve  not  only  to 
perpetuate  and  honor  the  memory  of  the  brave  men 
and  women  and  innocent  children — the  pioneer  settlers 
who  suffered  here — but  should  also  stimulate  a  desire 
among  us  and  those  who  are  to  come  after  us  to  know 
more  of  the  struggles  and  sacrifices  of  those  who  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  greatness  of  this  City  and  State. 
I  have  been  fortunate  in  securing  the  services  of  the 
eminent  sculptor,  Mr.  Carl  Rohl-Smith,  who,  after 
extended  and  careful  research  and  investigation  of 
the  subject,  has  succeeded  in  producing  a  group  of 
statuary  and  designs  in  basrelief  which  embody  the 
prominent  incidents  and  culminating  scenes  of  the 
massacre.  The  monument  is  finished,  and  located 
just  100  feet  due  east  from  the  "  Massacre  Tree," 
and  I  have  now  the  pleasure  of  presenting  it,  with 
appropriate  deed  of  gift,  to  your  Society  in  trust  for 
the  City  of  Chicago  and  for  posterity.  With  great 
respect, 

Yours  sincerely, 

GEORGE  M.  PULLMAN. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  reading  of  the  letter  the 
Memorial  Group,  which  had  been  draped  with  our 
National  flag,  was  unveiled  by  Miss  Pullman  and 
George  M.  Pullman,  Junior.  It  was  greeted  by  those 


present  with  great  enthusiasm,  and  with  appropriate 
music  by  the  Royal  Hungarian  Band. 

Mr.  Edward  G.  Mason,  President  of  the  Chicago 
Historical  Society,  then  spoke  as  follows: 

MR.  MASON'S  ADDRESS. 

The  Chicago  Historical  Society  accepts  this  noble  gift 
in  trust  for  our  city  and  for  posterity  with  high  appreciation 
of  the  generosity,  the  public  spirit,  and  the  regard  for  his- 
tory of  the  donor.  It  realizes  that  this  monument  so  wisely 
planned  and  so  superbly  executed  .is  to  be  preserved  not 
simply  as  a  splendid  ornament  of  our  city  but  also  as  a 
most  impressive  record  of  its  history.  This  group,  repre- 
senting to  the  life  the  thrilling  scene  enacted  perchance  on 
the  very  spot  on  which  it  stands,  barely  eighty  years  ago, 
and  its  present  surroundings,  make  most  vivid  the  tre- 
mendous contrast  between  the  Chicago  of  1812  and  the 
Chicago  of  1893.  It  teaches  thus  the  marvelous  growth  of 
our  city,  and  it  commemorates  as  well  the  trials  and  the 
sorrows  of  those  who  suffered  here  in  the  cause  of  civiliza- 
tion. The  tragedy  which  it  recalls,  though  it  seemed  to 
extinguish  the  infant  settlement  in  blood,  was  in  reality 
one  which  nerved  men's  arms  and  fired  their  hearts  to  the 
efforts  which  rescued  this  region  from  the  invader  and  the 
barbarian  The  story  which  it  tells  is  therefore  of  deeper 
significance  than  many  that  have  to  do  with 

"Battles,  and  the  breath 

"Of  stormy  war  and  violent  death," 

and  it  is  one  which  should  never  be  forgotten. 

With  its  suggestions  before  us  how  readily  we  can  picture 
to  ourselves  the  events  of  that  i$th  day  of  August  in  the 
year  of  grace  1812.  Hardly  a  week  before  there  had  come 
through  the  forest  and  across  the  prairie  to  the  lonely  Fort 
Dearborn  an  Indian  runner,  like  a  clansman  with  the  fiery 


8 

cross,  bearing  the  news  of  the  battle  and  disaster.  War  with 
Great  Britain  had  been  declared  in  June,  Mackinac  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  in  July,  and  with  these 
alarming  tidings  the  red  messenger  brought  an  order  from 
the  commanding  General  at  Detroit,  contemplating  the 
abandonment  of  this  frontier  post.  Concerning  the  terms 
of  his  order  authorities  have  differed.  Capt.  Heald,  who 
received  it,  speaks  of  it  as  a  peremptory  command  to  evacu- 
ate the  fort.  Others  with  good  means  of  knowledge  say 
that  the  dispatch  directed  him  to  vacate  the  fort  if  practi- 
cable. But  Gen.  Hull,  who  sent  the  order,  settles  this 
question  in  a  report  to  the  War  Department,  which  has 
recently  come  to  light.  Writing  under  date  of  July  29th, 
1812,  he  says: 

"I  shall  immediately  send  an  express  to  Fort  Dearborn 
with  orders  to  evacuate  that  post  and  retreat  to  this  place 
(Detroit)  or  Fort  Wayne,  provided  it  can  be  effected  with  a 
greater  prospect  of  safety  than  to  remain.  Capt.  Heald  is  a 
judicious  officer  and  I  shall  confide  much  to  his  discretion." 

The  decision  whether  to  go  or  stay  rested  therefore  with 
Capt.  Nathan  Heald,  and  truly  the  responsibility  was  a 
heavy  one.  Signs  of  Indian  hostility  had  not  been  wanting. 
But  the  evening  before  Black  Partridge,  a  chief  of  the 
Pottawatomie  tribe,  long  a  friend  of  the  whites,  had  entered 
the  quarters  of  the  commanding  officer  and  handed  to  him 
the  medal  which  the  warrior  wore  in  token  of  services  to  the 
American  cause  in  the  Indian  campaigns  of  "Mad"  Anthony 
Wayne.  With  dignity  and  with  sadness  the  native  orator  said : 

"Father,  I  come  to  deliver  up  to  you  the  medal  I  wear. 
It  was  given  me  by  the  Americans,  and  I  have  long  worn 
it  in  token  of  our  mutual  friendship.  But  our  young  men 
are  resolved  to  imbue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  the 
whites.  I  cannot  restrain  them  and  I  will  not  wear  a  token 
of  peace  while  I  am  compelled  to  act  as  an  enemy." 

This  striking  incident  has  been  fitly  chosen  as  the  subject 
of  one  of  the  reliefs  on  the  pedestal  of  the  monument.  It 


W~" 
i~*^H*HmM 

5k 

^ 

f  M  v-»  ;A  * 

il 

iMHli£ 

typifies  the  relations  between  the  hapless  whites  and  their 
red  neighbors  at  the  moment  and  the  causes  which  had 
changed  friendship  into  hatred,  and  it  sounds  the  note  of 
coming  doom. 

On  that  dreary  day  one  gleam  of  light  fell  across  the 
path  of  the  perplexed  commander.  Capt.  William  Wells 
arrived  from  Fort  Wayne  with  a  small  party  of  friendly 
Miami  Indians  to  share  the  fortunes  of  the  imperiled  garri- 
son. This  gallant  man,  destined  to  be  the  chief  hero  and 
victim  of  the  Chicago  massacre,  had  had  a  most  remarkable 
career.  Of  a  good  Kentucky  family,  he  was  stolen  when  a 
boy  of  12  by  the  Miami  Indians  and  adopted  by  their  great 
chief,  Me-che-kau-nah-qua,  or  Little  Turtle,  whose  daughter 
became  his  wife.  He  fought  on  the  side  of  the  red  men  in 
their  defeats  of  Gen.  Harmar  in  1790  and  Gen.  St.  Clair  in 
1791.  Discovered  by  his  Kentucky  kindred  when  he  had 
reached  years  of  manhood,  he  was  persuaded  to  ally  himself 
with  his  own  race,  and  took  formal  leave  of  his  Indian 
comrades,  avowing  henceforth  his  enmity  to  them.  Joining 
Wayne's  army,  he  was  made  Captain  of  a  company  of  scouts, 
and  was  a  most  faithful  and  valuable  officer.  When  peace 
came  with  the  treaty  of  Greenville  in  1795,  he  devoted  him- 
self to  obtaining  an  education,  and  succeeded  so  well  that 
he  was  appointed  Indian  agent  and  served  in  that  capacity 
at  Chicago  as  early  as  1803,  and  later  at  Fort  Wayne,  where 
he  was  also  the  government  interpreter  and  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace.  Here  he  heard  of  the  probable  evacuation  of  the 
post  at  Chicago,  and  knowing  the  temper  of  the  Indians,  he 
gathered  such  force  as  he  could  and  made  a  rapid  march 
across  the  country  to  save  or  die  with  his  friends  at  Fort 
Dearborn,  among  whom  the  wife  of  Capt.  Heald  was  his  own 
favorite  niece,  whose  gentle  influence  had  been  most  potent 
in  winning  him  back  from  barbarism  years  before.  It 
seemed  almost  as  if  he  had  resolved  to  atone  for  the  period 
in  which  he  had  ignorautly  antagonized  his  own  people  by 
a  supreme  effort  in  their  behalf  against  the  race  which  had 
so  nearly  made  him  a  savage. 


10 

He  came  too  late  to  effect  any  change  in  Capt.  Heald's 
plans.  The  abandonment  was  resolved  upon,  and  the  stores 
and  ammunition  were  in  part  destroyed  and  in  part  divided 
among  the  Indians,  who  were  soon  to  make  so  base  a  return 
for  these  gifts.  At  9  o'clock  on  that  fatal  summer  morning 
the  march  began  from  the  little  fort,  which  stood  where 
Michigan  avenue  and  River  street  now  join,  on  a  slight 
eminence  around  which  the  river  wound  to  find  its  way  to 
the  lake  near  the  present  terminus  of  Madison  street.  The 
garrison  bade  farewell  to  the  rude  stockade  and  the  log 
barracks  and  magazine  and  two  corner  block-houses  which 
composed  the  first  Fort  Dearborn.  When  this  only  place  of 
safety  was  left  behind,  the  straggling  line  stretched  out 
along  the  shore  of  the  lake,  Capt.  Wells  and  a  part  of  his 
Miamis  in  the  van,  half  a  company  of  regulars  and  a  dozen 
militiamen,  and  the  wagons  with  the  women  and  children 
following,  and  the  remainder  of  the  Miamis  bringing  up  the 
rear.  You  may  see  it  all  on  the  panel  on  the  monument, 
which  recalls  from  the  past  and  makes  very  real  this 
mournful  march  to  death.  The  escort  of  Pottawatomies, 
which  that  treacherous  tribe  had  glibly  promised  to  Capt. 
Heald,  kept  abreast  of  the  troops  until  they  reached  the 
sand  hills  intervening  between  the  prairie  and  the  lake,  and 
here  the  Indians  disappeared  behind  the  ridge.  The  whites 
kept  on  near  the  water  to  a  point  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the 
fort  and  about  where  Fourteenth  street  now  ends,  when 
Wells  in  the  advance  was  seen  to  turn  and  ride  back,  swing- 
ing his  hat  around  his  head  in  a  circle,  which  meant  in  the 
sign  language  of  the  frontier:  "  We  are  surrounded  by 
Indians." 

As  soon  as  he  came  within  hearing  he  shouted:  "We  are 
surrounded;  march  up  on  the  sand  ridges."  And  all  at 
once,  in  the  graphic  language  of  Mrs.  Heald,  they  saw  "  the 
Indians'  heads  sticking  up  and  down  again,  here  and  there, 
like  turtles  out  of  the  water." 

Instantly  a  volley  was  showered  down  from  the  sand  hills, 
the  troops  were  brought  into  line,  and  charged  up  the 


II 

bank,  one  man,  a  veteran  of  seventy  years,  falling  as  they 
ascended.  Wells  shouted  to  Heald,  "Charge  them!"  and 
then  led  on  and  broke  the  line  of  the  Indians,  who  scattered 
right  and  left.  Another  charge  was  made,  in  which  Wells 
did  deadly  execution  upon  the  perfidious  barbarians,  load- 
ing and  firing  two  pistols  and  a  gun  in  rapid  succession. 
But  the  Pottawatomies,  beaten  in  front,  closed  in  on  the 
flanks.  The  cowardly  Miamis  rendered  no  assistance,  and 
in  fifteen  minutes'  time  the  savages  had  possession  of  the 
baggage  train  and  were  slaying  the  women  and  children. 
Heald  and  the  remnant  of  his  command  were  isolated  on 
a  mound  in  the  prairie.  He  had  lost  all  his  officers  and  half 
his  men,  was  himself  sorely  wounded,  and  there  was  no 
choice  but  to  surrender. 

Such,  in  merest  outline,  was  the  battle,  and  one  of  its 
saddest  incidents  was  the  death  of  Capt.  Wells.  As  he  rode 
back  from  the  fray,  desperately  wounded,  he  met  his  niece 
and  bade  her  farewell,  saying:  "  Tell  my  wife,  if  you  live  to 
see  her — but  I  think  it  doubtful  if  a  single  one  escapes — tell 
her  I  died  at  my  post,  doing  the  best  I  could.  There  are 
seven  red  devils  over  there  that  I  have  killed."  As  he 
spoke  his  horse  fell,  pinning  him  to  the  ground.  A  group 
of  Indians  approached;  he  took  deliberate  aim  and  fired, 
killing  one  of  them.  As  the  others  drew  near,  with  a  last 
effort  he  proudly  lifted  his  head,  saying:  "  Shoot  away," 
and  the  fatal  shot  was  fired. 

So  died  Chicago's  hero,  whose  tragic  fate  and  the  hot 
fight  in  which  he  fell  are  aptly  selected  as  the  subjects  of 
the  other  basreliefs  of  this  monument.  The  bronze  group 
which  crowns  it  is  an  epitome  of  the  whole  struggle,  reveal- 
ing its  desperate  character,  the  kind  of  foemen  whom  our 
soldiers  had  to  meet,  and  their  mode  of  warfare,  their  mer- 
ciless treatment  of  women  and  children,  and  setting  forth 
the  one  touch  of  romance  in  the  grim  record  of  the  Chicago 
massacre.  It  illustrates  the  moment  when  the  young  wife 
of  Lieut.  Helm,  second  in  command  of  the  fort,  was 


12 

attacked  by  an  Indian  lad,  who  struck  her  on  the  shoulder 
with  a  tomahawk.  To  prevent  him  from  using  his  weapons 
she  seized  him  around  the  neck  and  strove  to  get  possession 
of  the  scalping-knife  which  hung  in  a  scabbard  over  his 
breast.  In  the  midst  of  the  struggle  she  was  dragged  from 
the  grasp  of  her  assailant  by  an  older  Indian.  He  bore  her 
to  the  lake  and  plunged  her  into  the  waves;  but  she  quickly 
perceived  that  his  object  was  not  to  drown  her,  as  he  held 
her  head  above  water.  Gazing  intently  at  him  she  soon 
recognized,  in  spite  of  the  paint  with  which  he  was  dis- 
guised, the  whilom  friend  of  the  whites,  Black  Partridge, 
who  saved  her  from  further  harm  and  restored  her  to  her 
friends.  For  this  good  deed,  and  others,  too,  this  noble 
chief  should  be  held  in  kindly  remembrance. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  that  such  scenes  could  have  taken 
place  where  we  meet  to-day;  but  history  and  tradition  alike 
bear  witness  that  we  are  assembled  near  the  center  of  that 
bloody  battlefield.  From  the  place  on  the  lake  shore  a  few 
blocks  to  the  north,  where  Wells'  signal  halted  the  column 
over  the  parallel  sand  ridges  stretching  southwesterly  along 
the  prairie  and  through  the  bushy  ravines  between,  the  run- 
ning fight  continued  probably  as  far  as  the  present  inter- 
section of  Twenty-first  street  and  Indiana  avenue,  where  one 
of  our  soldiers  was  slain  and  scalped,  and  still  lies  buried. 
Just  over  on  Michigan  avenue  must  have  been  the  little 
eminence  on  the  prairie  on  which  Heald  made  his  last  rally, 
and  right  before  us  the  skulking  savages,  who  had  given  way 
at  the  advance  of  our  men,  gathered  in  their  rear  around  the 
few  wagons  which  had  vainly  sought  to  keep  under  the 
cover  of  our  line. 

If  this  gaunt  old  cottonwood,  long  known  as  the  "Mas- 
sacre Tree,"  could  speak,  what  a  tale  of  horror  it  would  tell. 
For  tradition,  strong  as  Holy  Writ,  affirms  that  between  this 
tree  and  its  neighbor,  the  roots  of  which  still  remain  beneath 
the  pavement,  the  baggage  wagon  containing  twelve  children 
of  the  white  families  of  the  fort,  halted  and  one  young  sav- 


13 

age  climbing  into  it,  tomahawked  the  entire  group.  A  little 
while  and  this  sole  witness  of  that  deed  of  woe  must  pass 
away.  But  the  duty  of  preserving  the  name  and  the  locality 
of  the  Chicago  massacre,  which  has  been  its  charge  for  so 
many  years,  is  now  transferred  to  this  stately  monument, 
which  will  faithfully  perform  it  long  after  the  fall  of  the 
"Massacre  Tree." 

Capt.  Heald's  whole  party,  not  including  the  Miami 
detachment,  when  they  marched  out  of  Fort  Dearborn  com- 
prised fifty-four  regulars,  twelve  militiamen,  nine  women 
and  eighteen  children — ninety-three  white  persons  in  all. 
Of  these  twenty-six  regulars  and  the  twelve  militiamen  were 
slain  in  action,  two  women  and  twelve  children  were  mur- 
dered on  the  field,  and  five  regulars  were  barbarously  put  to 
death,  after  the  surrender.  There  remained  then  but  thirty- 
six  of  the  whole  party  of  ninety-three,  and  of  the  sixty-six 
fighting  men  who  met  their  red  foemen  here  that  day  only 
twenty-three  survived.  These,  with  seven  women  and  six 
children,  were  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  savages.  We 
know  of  the  romantic  escape,  by  the  aid  of  friendly  Indians, 
of  Capt.  and  Mrs.  Heald  and  Lieut,  and  Mrs.  Helm;  and 
three  of  the  soldiers,  one  of  whom  was  Orderly  Sergeant 
William  Griffith,  in  less  than  two  months  after  the  massacre 
found  their  way  to  Michigan,  bringing  the  sad  news  from 
Fort  Dearborn.  Hull's  surrender  had  placed  Detroit  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy;  but  the  Territorial  Chief  Justice,  Wood- 
ward, the  highest  United  States  authority  there,  in  a  ringing 
letter  to  the  British  Commandant,  Col.  Proctor,  under  date 
of  Oct.  8,  1812,  demanded  in  the  name  of  humanity  that 
instant  means  should  be  taken  for  the  preservation  of  these 
unhappy  captives  by  sending  special  messengers  among  the 
Indians  to  collect  the  prisoners  and  bring  them  to  the  near- 
est army  post,  and  that  orders  to  cooperate  should  be  issued 
to  the  British  officers  on  the  lakes.  Col.  Proctor  one  month 
before  had  been  informed  by  his  own  people  of  the  bloody 
work  at  Chicago,  and  had  reported  the  same  to  his  superior 


officer,  Maj.  Gen.  Brock,  but  had  contented  himself  with 
remarking  that  he  had  no  knowledge  of  any  attack  having 
been  intended  by  the  Indians  on  Chicago,  nor  could  they 
indeed  be  said  to  be  within  the  influence  of  the  British. 

Now,  spurred  to  action  by  Judge  Woodward's  clear  and 
forcible  presentation  of  the  case,  Proctor  promised  to  use 
the  most  effective  means  in  his  power  for  the  speedy  release 
from  slavery  of  these  unfortunate  individuals.  He  com- 
mitted the  matter  to  Robert  Dickson,  British  agent  to  the 
Indians  of  the  Western  Nations,  who  proceeded  about  it 
leisurely  enough.  March,  16,  1813,  he  wrote  from  St. 
Joseph's  Lake,  Mich.,  that  there  remained  of  the  ill-fated 
garrison  of  Chicago,  captives  among  the  Indians,  seventeen 
soldiers,  four  women,  and  some  children,  and  that  he  had 
taken  the  necessary  steps  for  their  redemption  and  had  the 
fullest  confidence  that  he  should  succeed  in  getting  the 
whole.  Six  days  later  he  came  to  Chicago  and  inspected 
the  ruined  fort,  where,  as  he  says,  there  remained  only  two 
pieces  of  brass  ordnance,  three-pounders — one  in  the  river, 
with  wheels,  and  the  other  dismounted — a  powder  magazine, 
well  preserved,  and  a  few  houses  on  the  outside  of  the  fort, 
in  good  condition.  This  desolation  apparently  was  not 
relieved  by  the  presence  of  a  single  inhabitant.  Such  was  the 
appearance  of  Chicago  in  the  spring  following  the  massacre. 
Of  these  seventeen  soldiers,  the  nine  who  survived  their  long 
imprisonment  were  ransomed  by  a  French  trader  and  sent 
to  Quebec,  and  ultimately  reached  Plattsburg,  N.  Y.,  in  the 
summer  of  1814.  Of  the  women  two  were  rescued  from 
slavery,  one  by  the  kindness  of  Black  Partridge;  and  the 
others  doubtless  perished  in  captivity.  Of  the  children  we 
only  hear  again  of  one.  In  a  letter  written  to  Maj.  Gen. 
Proctor  by  Capt.  Bullock,  the  British  commander  at  Mack- 
inac,  Sept.  25,  1813,  he  says:  "There  is  also  here  a  boy 
(Peter  Bell)  5  or  6  years  of  age,  whose  father  and  mother 
were  killed  at  Chicago.  The  boy  was  purchased  from  the 
Indians  by  a  trader  and  brought  here  last  July  by  direction 


15 

of  Mr.  Dickson."  Of  the  six  little  people  who  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Indians  this  one  small  waif  alone  seems  to  have 
floated  to  the  shore  of  freedom. 

The  Pottawatomies,  after  the  battle  and  the  burning  of 
the  fort,  divided  their  booty  and  prisoners  and  scattered, 
some  to  their  villages,  some  to  join  their  brethren  in  the 
siege  of  Fort  Wayne.  Here  they  were  foiled  by  the  timely 
arrival  of  William  Henry  Harrison,  then  Governor  of  the 
Indiana  Territory,  with  a  force  of  Kentucky  and  Ohio 
troops,  and  condign  punishment  was  inflicted  upon  a  part  at 
least  of  the  Chicago  murderers.  A  detachment  which  Gen. 
Harrison  assigned  to  this  work  was  commanded  by  Col. 
Samuel  Wells,  who  must  have  remembered  his  brother's 
death  when  he  destroyed  the  village  of  Five  Medals,  a  lead- 
ing Pottawatomie  chief.  To  one  of  the  ruthless  demons  who 
slew  women  and  children  under  the  branches  of  this  tree, 
such  an  appropriate  vengeance  came  that  it  seems  fitting  to 
tell  the  story  here.  He  was  older  than  most  of  the  band,  a 
participant  in  many  battles,  and  a  deadly  enemy  of  the 
whites.  His  scanty  hair  was  drawn  tightly  upward  and  tied 
with  a  string,  making  a  tuft  on  top  of  his  head,  and  from  this 
peculiarity  he  was  known  as  Chief  Shavehead.  Years  after 
the  Chicago  massacre  he  was  a  hunter  in  Western  Michigan 
and  when  in  liquor  was  fond  of  boasting  of  his  achievements 
on  the  warpath.  On  one  of  these  occasions  in  the  streets 
of  a  little  village  he  told  the  fearful  tale  of  his  doings  on 
this  field  with  all  its  horrors;  but  among  his  hearers  there 
chanced  to  be  a  soldier  of  the  garrison  of  Fort  Dearborn,  one 
of  the  few  survivors  of  that  fatal  day.  As  he  listened  he 
saw  that  frightful  scene  again,  and  was  maddened  by  its  re- 
call. At  sundown  the  old  brave  left  the  settlement,  and 
silently  on  his  trail  the  soldier  came,  "with  his  gun,"  says  the 
account,  "  resting  in  the  hollow  of  his  left  arm  and  the  right 
hand  clasped  around  the  lock,  with  forefinger  carelessly  toy- 
ing with  the  trigger."  The  red  man  and  the  white  passed 
into  the  shade  of  the  forest;  the  soldier  returned  alone; 
Chief  Shavehead  was  never  seen  again.  He  had  paid  the 


i6 

penalty  of  his  crime  to  one  who  could,  with  some  fitness, 
exact  it.  Such  was  the  fate  of  a  chief  actor  in  the  dark 
scene  enacted  here. 

Many  others  of  the  Pottawatomie  tribe  joined  the  British 
forces  in  the  field,  and  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames,  Oct.  5, 
1813,  they  were  confronted  again  by  Harrison  and  his  rifle- 
men, who  then  avenged  the  slaughter  at  Chicago  upon  some 
of  its  perpetrators.  Victor  and  victim  alike  have  passed 
away.  The  story  of  their  struggle  remains,  and  this  master- 
piece will  be  an  object-lesson  teaching  it  to  after  generations. 
Mr.  Pullman's  liberal  and  thoughtful  action  is  a  needed 
recognition  of  the  importance  and  interest  of  our  early 
history,  an  inspiration  to  its  study,  and  an  example  which 
may  well  be  followed.  The  event  which  this  monument 
commemorates,  its  principal  incidents,  and  the  after  fortunes 
of  those  concerned  in  it,  have  been  briefly  sketched  and 
much  has  necessarily  been  left  unsaid.  But  we  should  not 
omit  a  grateful  recognition  of  the  services  of  the  able  civilian 
soldier,  William  Henry  Harrison,  who  stayed  the  tide  of 
barbarism  which  flowed  from  the  Chicago  massacre,  and 
humbled  the  tribe  which  was  responsible,  for  that  lurid 
tragedy.  The  name  of  Harrison  is  intimately  and  honorably 
associated  with  the  early  days  in  the  Northwest,  with  the 
war  of  1812,  and  with  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the 
American  people  half  a  century  ago.  It  is  likewise  inti- 
mately and  honorably  associated  with  the  later  days  of  the 
Northwest,  with  the  great  Civil  War,  and  again  with  the 
highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  American  people  in  our  own 
times.  It  is  fitting  that  the  distinguished  descendant  of 
William  Henry  Harrison  should  be  here  to-day.  It  is  a  high 
honor  that  the  eminent  ex-President  of  the  United  States 
should  grace  this  occasion  with  his  presence,  which  makes 
these  exercises  complete.  I  have  the  great  pleasure  of 
introducing  to  you  ex-President  Benjamin  Harrison. 


EX-PRESIDENT  HARRISON'S  ADDRESS. 

Chicago  is  exalted  to-day,  lifted  up  to  a  pinnacle  that 
brings  upon  her  the  vision  of  the  world.  The  nations,  great 
and  small,  all  races  and  tongues,  have  sent  hither  their 
official  representatives  with  the  choicest  product  of  their  art 
and  of  their  handicraft.  She  has  builded  for  the  reception 
of  the  Nation's  guests  and  for  the  display  of  their  treasures 
palaces  which  in  extent,  in  adaptation,  and  in  classic  grace 
and  beauty  far  excel  the  best  efforts  of  the  cities  that  have 
before  opened  their  gates  to  receive  the  representatives  of 
the  world. 

Doubts,  difficulties,  jealousies,  and  petty  criticisms  have 
been  swept  away  and  the  clear  sunlight  of  a  magnificent 
success  shines  upon  the  great  enterprise.  All  other  States 
and  cities  of  this  proud,  united,  and  happy  land  share  with 
you  in  the  joy  of  this  success,  for  it  is  an  American  success. 

But  we  are  not  at  the  White  City  to-day.  Here,  at  this 
quiet  corner  by  the  lakeside,  we  come  to  be  instructed  by 
recalling  an  incident  of  the  year  1812.  These  exercises  are 
not  out  of  time.  They  are  not  inharmonious.  The  starting 
post  as  well  as  the  finish  must  be  taken  account  of  in  the 
race.  We  get  a  better  view  of  the  oak  if  we  hold  the  acorn 
in  our  hands  while  we  look  at  the  buttressed  trunk,  the 
towering  crown,  and  the  spreading  branches  of  the  magnif- 
icent tree.  The  first  rude  structure  that  moved  by  steam 
upon  the  tramway  sets  off  the  cp-miles-an-hour  locomotive 
more  than  its  paint  and  brasses.  So  the  picture  Mr.  Mason 
has  given  us  of  Chicago  in  1812  makes  the  city  of  1893  more 
wonderful,  more  a  thing  of  magic,  than  the  White  City. 

But  there  is  something  better  than  the  mere  sense  of 
growth  to  be  had  out  of  this  brief  visit  to  Fort  Dearborn,  to 
the  Kinzie  house  and  to  the  sand  dunes  that  drank  the 


i8 

blood  of  brave  men  and  women  and  of  innocent  children. 
It  is  morally  wholesome  for  a  man  or  a  community  that  has 
been  highly  exalted  to  consider  the  beginning.  The  soldier 
whose  banner  has  triumphed  on  every  field  where  it  has 
been  unfurled  does  well  to  look  at  the  cradle  in  which  he 
was  rocked  and  the  homely  surroundings  of  his  childhood, 
for  they  recall  the  services  and  the  sacrifices  of  that  gen- 
eration, and  of  the  humble  father  and  mother  whose  un- 
selfish and  unobserved  heroism  made  his  greater  career  pos- 
sible. Doing  this  he  will  carry  away  some  abatement  of  his 
pride  and  a  higher  sense  of  obligation. 

I  am  glad  that  we  are  beginning  to  build  monuments. 
Bunker  Hill  was,  not  long  ago,  lonesome,  but  now  every 
city  and  nearly  all  counties  have  built  in  commemoration  of 
the  heroes  and  of  the  cause.  The  Sculptor  has  found  the 
universal  language.  He  speaks  to  the  schooled  and  to  the 
unschooled.  The  history  of  the  conquest  of  the  West  is 
full  of  incidents  calculated  to  kindle  the  historian  and  to 
stir  the  imagination  of  the  novelist,  the  painter  and  the 
sculptor.  The  pioneer  was  as  fine  as  he  was  unique  in 
character.  Free  and  unconventionally  brave  and  self-reliant, 
as  responsive  to  the  cry  of  distress  as  a  knight-errant,  he 
pushed  the  skirmish  line  of  civilization  from  the  Alleghanies 
to  the  Rockies.  All  honor  to  him!  He  labored  and  forever 
entered  into  his  rest.  We  possess  the  lands  he  won  from 
the  savagery  of  Nature  and  of  the  natives.  Have  we  as 
strong  a  hold  upon  the  sturdy  virtues  which  his  life  illus- 
trated? 

Every  community  should  properly  mark  the  scene  of 
such  historical  event  as  we  now  commemorate.  The  future 
is  full  of  imperious  demands,  but  the  historian  serves  the 
future  as  effectively  as  the  projector.  We  shall  value  our 
possession  of  lands  and  free  institutions  more  highly  if  we 
learn  that  they  were  bought  not  with  corruptible  things,  as 


19 

silver  and  gold,  but  with  precious  blood,  the  blood  of 
the  brave  and  of  the  innocent.  We  shall,  after  this  lesson, 
be  more  willing  to  preserve  by  blood,  if  need  be,  that  which 
was  bought  by  blood. 

This  event  which  this  monument  commemorates  was  not 
a  great  military  achievement.  In  the  light  of  history  the 
evacuation  was  a  fatal  mistake,  but  it  was  the  occasion  for 
bringing  into  prominence,  it  gave  a  field  of  display,  for  some 
of  those  traits  of  heroism,  of  courage  in  men  and  women, 
which  so  marked  the  whole  course  of  our  pioneer  experience. 

I  am  glad  that  the  generosity  of  your  fellow-citizen  ( Mr. 
Pullman)  has  marked  this  spot.  There  is  a  teaching  and  an 
inspiring  force  in  every  such  structure.  Our  land  is  not  old. 
We  cannot  show  to  these  visiting  foreigners  any  ruins  or 
any  ivied  castles.  There  is  the  mark  of  the  chisel  yet  upon 
all  our  structures.  And  yet  no  century  of  the  history  of  any 
nation's  life  can  be  found  fuller  of  heroic  adventure,  of 
unselfish  devotion  to  duty,  of  high  enterprise,  and  of  success 
in  the  establishment  of  great  institutions  than  this  century 
of  our  young  existence. 

It  is,  I  am  sure,  a  pleasant  thing  for  you  who  are  here  to 
turn  back  and  away  for  a  moment  from  these  hurrying  scenes 
that  are  about  you  and  to  look  with  contemplative  eye  upon 
these  incidents  in  the  early  history  of  Chicago,  which,  if  they 
teach  any  lesson,  teach  this:  that  the  prosperity  of  commun- 
ities, the  safety  and  honor  of  states,  must  be  bedded  upon  a 
virtuous,  self-respecting,  law-abiding  and  God-fearing  people. 


20 


THE  MEMORIAL  GROUP. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  address  of  Ex-President 
Harrison,  the  audience  gathered  around  the  Memorial 
Group  to  carefully  inspect  this  beautiful  work  of  art. 

The  group  represents  the  rescue  of  Mrs.  Helm  by 
Black  Partridge,  and,  in  accordance  with  Mr.  Pullman's 
suggestion,  the  moment  chosen  is  when  Mrs.  Helm, 
attacked  by  an  Indian,  who  intends  to  brain  her  with 
his  tomahawk,  tries  to  grasp  the  scalping  knife  from 
his  scabbard.  Black  Partridge,  seeing  her  danger, 
rushes  to  her  aid,  and  claiming  her  as  his  prisoner, 
prevents  the  perilous  blow.  The  figure  lying  on  the 
plinth  is  the  surgeon  of  Fort  Dearborn,  Dr.  Van 
Voorhis  who  had  the  well  known  conversation  with 
Mrs.  Helm  which  was  interrupted  by  the  Indians' 
assault.  He  was  killed  by  another  Indian  at  the 
same  moment  Black  Partridge  saved  the  life  of  Mrs. 
Helm.  The  baby  is  one  of  the  twelve  children  toma- 
hawked by  the  Indian  the  same  day. 

The  four  basreliefs  on  the  pedestal  tell  some  of 
the  important  incidents  of  the  tragedy.  The  panel 
facing  South-east  represents  Black  Partridge  return- 
ing to  Captain  Heald,  Commander  of  Fort  Dearborn, 
the  medal  presented  to  him  by  the  government.  This 
took  place  in  the  Court  of  the  Fort  on  the  evening 
before  the  evacuation.  The  figure  on  Captain  Heald' s 


21 

right  side  is  Captain  Wells  sent  to  the  assistance  of 
the  Fort  with  a  small  band  of  friendly  Miami  Indians. 
In  the  background,  the  garrison  and  women  making 
preparations  for  the  departure  on  the  following 
morning. 

The  panel  facing  South-west,  shows  the  march 
from  the  Fort  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan, 
Captain  Wells  and  his  Miamis  leading  the  train,  then 
Captain  Heald  with  the  garrison,  wagons  containing 
women  and  children,  Mrs.  Heald  and  Mrs.  Helm  on 
horseback,  and  a  party  of  Indians  following  the  train; 
Fort  Dearborn  is  visible  in  the  background  to  the 
right. 

The  North-east  panel  represents  the  attack  of  the 
combined  Indian  Tribes  on  the  garrison. 

The  death  of  Captain  Wells  is  shown  on  the  North- 
west panel.  His  horse  shot  under  him  and  himself 
mortally  wounded,  he  asks  Mrs.  Heald,  who  passed 
him  on  her  flight,  to  take  a  message  to  his  wife.  She 
sees  an  Indian  aiming  at  him,  and  he  seeing  her 
terror,  coolly  turns  his  breast  toward  the  Indian  and 
shouts:  "Shoot  away!"  In  the  background  Fort 
Dearborn  and  Lake  Michigan. 

An  artistic  conception  of  this  historical  event 
could  not  go  to  any  of  the  known  styles  of  plastic  art 
for  an  adequate  expression;  it  would  have  to  sacrifice 
something  of  its  character. 

A  massacre,  perpetrated  by  savages,  demands  for 


22 

full  expression  the  portrayal  of  the  highest  degree  of 
violence,  and  the  equipoise  and  dignity  which  are  the 
fundamental  elements  of  all  plastic  art. 

This  problem  the  artist  has  tried  to  solve  by  giving 
to  the  outline  of  the  whole  group,  when  seen  at  a  dis- 
tance at  which  the  individual  motives  of  action  and  the 
details  of  treatment  are  still  indistinct,  that  careful 
balance  between  part  and  part,  that  architectural 
symmetry  which  is  the  severe  demand  of  all  classical 
plastic  art;  while  within  this  firm  framework  he  has 
let  loose  that  intense  play  of  manifold  forces,  which  is 
the  only  true  messenger  between  reality  and  the 
human  imagination,  and  which,  therefore,  neither  art 
nor  history  dares  to  give  up. 

The  panels  have  been  treated  so  as  to  allow  of  full 
realism  in  the  representation  both  of  human  beings 
and  landscape,  and  the  very  low  relief  in  which  they 
are  executed  contributes  to  give  the  main  group  a 
more  dominant,  more  forcible  position. 

The  artist's  work  fully  justifies  the  encomium  of  a 
competent  art  critic,  who  says:  "It  is  one  of  the  great- 
est pieces  of  realistic  sculpture  that  has  ever  been 
given  to  plastic  art  in  this  or  any  other  part  of  the 
world.  It  is  the  first  time  that  the  real  American 
Indian*— in  feature,  form,  costume  and  methods  of 
warfare — has  ever  been  given  to  the  world  in  bronze; 
and  so  far  as  my  information  goes,  it  is  the  only  time 
that  living  models  have  been  used  for  that  purpose. 


23 

Anyone  familiar  with  plastic  art,  and  who  has  seen  the 
Indian  and  studied  his  history,  cannot  fail  to  see  that 
the  artist  has  been  remarkably  successful  in  reproduc- 
ing the  original  faithfully,  that  he  has  indeed  given  us 
a  really  great  work  of  permanent  artistic  and  historic 
value." 

The  group  and  basreliefs  are  bronze,  cast  by  the 
Henry-Bonnard  Bronze  Co.  of  New  York.  Height  of 
group  9  feet;  dimensions  of  plinth,  7  feet  10  inches 
by  4  feet  7  inches;  size  of  basreliefs,  7  feet  2  inches 
by  2  feet  5  inches,  and  3  feet  1 1  inches  by  2  feet  5 
inches. 

The  pedestal  is  dark  polished  Quincy  granite, 
executed  by  the  Hallowell  Granite  Co.  of  Chicago. 
Height,  10  feet;  base,  13  feet  by  9  feet  9  inches. 

In  a  cavity  in  the  pedestal,  directly  under  the 
central  figure,  was  placed  a  copper  box  containing 
the  following: 

Chicago  City  Directory,  1893  ;  official  directory 
World's  Fair;  standard  guide  of  Chicago;  Great  Fire 
pictures;  portraits,  engravings,  etc.;  Story  of  Chicago, 
Kirkland;  Story  of  Massacre,  Kirkland;  Judge  Caton's 
narrative  concerning  the  Massacre  Tree ;  Holden's 
sketch  concerning  battlefield;  cylinder  of  phono- 
graphic speech;  letter  of  donation;  daily  newspapers 
of  Chicago. 


